Category: server-panels

In this post, you will find an introduction and overview of VirtFusion server control panel. This post is a hybrid of sorts, that is, will cover the “what” and the “how” together in this post. The “what” will cover how to install the VirtFusion panel, what are the minimum hardware and operating system specifications, and so on. We will refer to the installation and configuration documentation for this. In parallel, I will also include screenshots from the time I had tested this panel. This is intended to aid a subscriber to a VPS, i.e. a typical end user’s perspective.

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In this post, you will find an introduction and overview of VirtFusion server control panel. This post is a hybrid of sorts, that is, will cover the “what” and the “how” together in this post. The “what” will cover how to install the VirtFusion panel, what are the minimum hardware and operating system specifications, and so on. We will refer to the installation and configuration documentation for this. In parallel, I will also include screenshots from the time I had tested this panel. This is intended to aid a subscriber to a VPS, i.e. a typical end user’s perspective.

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I tested out the installtion of TinyCP, a server control panel recently on a VPS in Singapore, by WebHorizon. I was tinkering around the VPS and thought it was a good idea to extend it by using TinyCP on a Debian 11 (Bullseye) installation.

What is TinyCP?

TinyCP is an open source web-based control panel for servers. I came across this panel while writing the post about server management panels.

Screenshot Gallery: TinyCP

This is a short review of Server Avatar server management panel for Virtual Private Servers or VPS. In some ways, it is similar to Runcloud or Gridpane, two other fine options that I have come to use and love. I was planning to post my thoughts about this SAAS tool a while. The recent “Lifetime deal” posted by Adarsh, the founder of Server Avatar, provided the trigger to write this post.

This post is a part of my series on Server Management Panels.

Introduction

I had published post about Server Management Panels a few weeks ago on my blog. This was followed by a review of VPSNoobs. The readers offerd positive feedback for those posts. With that in mind, I plan to review Gridpane, Cloudpanel, Runcloud and a few other server management panels in the times to come.

Today, we will look at Server Avatar.

About Server Avatar Server Management Panel

Server Avatar server management panel launched in July 2016 as a free plan. In July 2017 it became a paid product. You can read more about the history of Server Avatar on this blog post, or on the About page of their website. The company behind this service is based in Surat in India.

Lifetime Deals by Server Avatar

Regular pricing for this SAAS includes three tiers- free, and two paid plans- Newbie and Pro.

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Server Avatar offered a lifetime deal in 2019, and again in March and June 2020. They had priced the 2019 deal at nearly US $300, for an unlimited number of servers. I had passed on that offer and invested in Gridpane instead. In March and June 2020, they offered lower priced plans. The number of servers ranged from 1 to 10, and were available under two tiers: base or “Newbie” tier or pro tier. I signed up for Pro plan for one server in March.

As on September 2020, they have offered another chance for a lifetime deal, which is supposed to be last one ever. For those who experience FOMO here is the link to the deal.

Review: My experience with Server Avatar

Having used Runcloud and later Gridpane with ease, I thought setting up a server with Servar Avatar would be a breeze. The steps after all are quite similar:

a. Log on to the account of your VPS provider, and set up a KVM based VPS. In case of cloud serer, create an instance. The operating system should be Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04.

b. Log on to Server Avatar Account, add the ipv4 address of the VPS.

The menu shows a password for root account and an installation script.

c. Log on to the VPS using SSH or any other terminal (such as Putty for Windows). Using sudo (if logged on as user, recommended!) run the installation script.

d. The script will install software like PHP, web server, database, and so on. You can view the progress in the terminal window, or in the web interface of your account.

e. In a few minutes, front end interface should connect to the server. You can access the front end by a web browser. You will of course have to log on to your account.

Pitfalls experienced: March 2020

The above steps seems simple, however, it was not the case. I tried connecting 4 different VPS’es. All had the following specifications:

-KVM with Ubuntu 18.04

-Minimum 1 GB RAM

-1vCPU

-over 15 GB of SSD or NVMe disk space

The progress bar in the web menu would show that the server was being configured, but would stop at around the 70 percent mark. I eventually had to write to customer support, and they had to configure it from the back end. Not the greatest start to using a new service.

On the positive note, Adarsh and his team were quite responsive to handle the matter. They, however did not provide the reason why I kept getting those errors.

Fast Forward September 2020

I have tested 5 or 6 different VPS’es of varying configurations, networks and with both Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04. The following tasks were accomplished without any hitch:

-Connecting the VPS to the Web based front end

-adding a ‘user’ or non admin account

-Setting up WordPress

-creating a database for a non-WordPress based content management system

-Setting up SSL for the site

-SFTP and Firewall

-Creating cron jobs for automating the updates to the server

In other words, most basic tasks one would need to set up the server, except backups. That is a brand-new feature that I am yet to test out.

Wrapping it up

Like any good product or service, Server Avatar is a work in progress. Using this service was a rough start for me, but I have decided to put my 1 server account to use. In the coming days, you might see the results of my efforts. In the server management panel world, this is a newer, offering. It is rather rough on the edges, but holds promise. At the price point of US $25, the Pro plan is worth considering.

Update: Server Vatar have added functionality to create and add backups.

Image Gallery- Server Avatar Menu

I will leave you with a series of screenshots in the form of an image gallery or a short video. Instead of reading further about the configuration settings and admin menu for Server Avatar, the images may prove equally useful. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

          Email confirmation from Server Avatar on resource usage

 

Monitoring server load in Server Avatar web interface

Adding Users to VPS

Sample WordPress site using Server Avatar

Installation via server avatar script under way

This post is about VPSNoobs, a server management panel for a Linux VPS. This panel is by Khan Webhosting, or modified by them. I will come to that in a minute.

This post is a part of my series on Server Management Panels.

Introduction: What is VPSNoobs?

A few weeks ago, user AK_KWH on LowEndSpirit reached out to me. He wanted to know if I would like to take a look at the server management tool. Khan Web Hosting developed it as a fork of Cipi, and they call it VPSNoobs.In my review, I was to look for any bugs, quirks, or any other quirks that I could find.

Typically, Sunday afternoons are my downtime. However, last weekend of August was the time some kids were doing high speed stunts. This was on the highway right across from my home. Ultimately, the cops did what cops should have done in the first place. But till then, I thought of giving a try to VPSNoobs.

Server Management Panel for Linux VPS

The idea of server management panel for a Linux VPS is not new or unique. But it is a much-needed space, and with the tools like grid pane, Server Aavatar, Runcloud, and many more. I had published a post previously. I had listed the different types of Server panels.

I set up a test account, and dove into it. VPSNoobs uses a similar philosophy as many other panels including Gridpane, ServerAvatar, Runcloud, and many more. In a nutshell, the steps I followed are as follows:First, added a server to may account. Next, installed the script that would connect the server to the graphical (web based) interface of VPSNoobs panel. Finally, ran some configurations including firewall, and installed WordPress.

Do we need another Server Management Panel for Linux VPS ?

The short answer is Yes. There are over 30 different server management panels that I have documented so far. I personally use Gridpane, and use Server Avatar as a backup. Interestingly enough, the majority of these tools use a KVM with the Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04.

In other words, almost every panel posts restrictions on the users. Ironically, using Free Software like Linux, they limit the flexibility. From that point of view, I do not support another panel that does something similar. Another way of looking at the situation is: the more the tools in the space, the more the choices for the users.

Back to VPSNoobs

Setting up an account was a pretty simple process. I also liked that it is a little lightweight compared to some panels. Gridpane, for example, bloats up the operating system significantly. On a clean installation of Ubuntu 18.04, the Gridpane script alone uses 7 or 8 gigabytes of space!

At seven gigabytes, the VPSNoobs install is lean. I would recommend at least a 15 gigabyte disk space, if you’re planning to install WordPress, or Laravel or any other applications. In terms of memory, the fully loaded system took about 315 MB of RAM.

I ran the VPSNoobs script on an Ubuntu 18.04 server, using template provided by Hosthatch. Configuring the server was easy as well. The script gives an alert that the installation will take 15 minutes to complete. In my case, it took about six or seven minutes. Of course, it depends on network speed, server configuration, and other criteria.The panel supports ipv4 address only, and there is no ipv6 support yet.

Wrapping it all up

I thought it would be quite interesting to try out one more tool in the space of server management panel for Linux VPS. You do need a KVM with Ubuntu 18.04, or 20.04, and a minimum one gigabyte of RAM is recommended. You can create applications like PHP based HTML application or Laravel, or WordPress. It was quite easy to connect a VPS to this particular service. Once the setup is complete, you can add your admin user and the non admin user. The panel also offers options to clone the server, and one click WordPress, add SSL, use FTP or SFTP in this case. It is equally easy to delete a server.

Not without Quirks

I noticed a couple of quirks on the dashboard. I could never see how much resources were getting consumed. This information of course can be obtained through the terminal.

Final Thoughts

It is early times yet to comment on the panel’s pros and cons overall, wishing the developers all the best!

Introduction: Server Management Panel

A server management panel provides a graphical or command line based interface for managing your server. Some common server control panel features include:

a. Installation of database server such as MySQL,

b. Web servers like Nginx and Apache,

c. Setting up firewall and SSL certificate,

d. Creating user accounts and websites using content management systems such as WordPress.

Server Management using a Control Panel

Majority of the readers who have used shared web hosting will familiar with using a web browser based panel for managing the servers. Most providers offer CPanel, Plesk, or DirectAdmin based web hosting control panels. Thus, the concept or idea of a web based control panel may not be new to many of us. However, the installation, configuration and management may not be familiar to most. In many online forums, Facebook groups, and sites such as Quora and Reddit, users ask questions like “Which is the best server management panel?”

Many blogs are written with similar titles, such as this one.

My trigger for writing this post

There was a similar discussion on LowEndTalk a few months ago. The discussion yielded a good list of panels for servers, in the free, freemium, and paid only pricing range. In the next section, have listed some of the panels that I have read about or come across in many of the discussions. 

The fallacy of “Best” Server Management Panel

This question “Which is the best server management panel?”, itself is rather pointless. After all, different people may have different requirements and constraints. Some of these are :

• Familiarity with Linux and or command line,
• Ability to manage a server,
• Trust in a third party service (convenience versus delegation),
• Budget (free or open source versus premium panels)

The more relevant question in my opinion, should be,

Or “How do I select a Web Hosting Panel?”

But that is a discussion for a separate topic.

Below is a list of panels I have come across in different discussions. This list is in no particular order. I have installed and played around with a few of the server management panels, and will share my thoughts on them in subsequent posts. Some are good for site monitoring, installation of web apps and Content Management Systems based on Laravel. You can find one click installers for OctoberCMS or even WordPress. Some panels offer API in free or freemium tier. Others offer premium features for paid versions.

Free/ Open Source	Freemium	Paid
Cloudpanel	Core Admin	Bunnyshell
Cloudron	Runcloud	Laravel Forge
aaPanel	Virtualmin	Server Avatar
VPSNoobs	CentOS Web Panel	Gridpane
Cipi		Cleaver
HestiaCP		DirectAdmin
VestaCP		cPanel
ISPConfig (BSD License)		Webuzo
Agenti		Interworx
Floxlor		SpinupWP
Webmin		VEPP
Centminmod		Plesk
MyVestacp		Ploi
tinycp

When I started looking at the world of servers and server panels, I noticed that different hosts used different web panels. For example, my first web host, GoDaddy, used a different panel whose name I do not recall. (I know, but you have to start somewhere!)

Later, I signed up for a WordPress hosting Plan by Hostgator. I learned they used a crippled version of CPanel. In 2017, I came across one of my hosts, and domain registrars, Rorarii. They use a custom form of cPanel, that might slightly resemble Interworx. 

Majority of web hosting services offer hosting based on cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plex, or similar commercially available web hosting control panel.

Open source alternatives include Froxlor, as well as some new ones which are under development. Github is a good starting point to look up some of them. Several blog posts have lists of cloud control panel or open source control panels to manage Linux servers. And of course, Wikipedia has an entire dedicated page on web hosting control panels.

Features of Server Management Panels

When we look at server panels such as Runcloud, Serverpilot, and Server Avatar, we begin to notice some commonalities.

The common features in these web based cloud or server management panels include:

• They have control panel with a graphical interface. A command line tool, may be optional in some of them.
• Most of the panels require the use of Linux (or BSD). Some even require or recommend Ubuntu 18.04 20.04. Others like Centminmod or CentOsWeb Panel require of course CentOs. HestiaCP or VestaCP recommend Ubuntu or Debian 10.
• Almost all panels require a KVM based Virtual Private Server.
• The setup for every server control panel is quite similar:
• Some may or may not offer the option of setting up a mail server.
• A web hosting control panel, through which you can install content management systems, such as WordPress. There are tools to add your domain name. You can add virtual hosts as well.

Reviews of Server Management Panels (to follow separately):

Cloudpanel, VPSNoobs, Runcloud, Server Avatar, HestiaCP, Cleaver, and Gridpane. 

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Resources

1. 21 Open Source/Commercial Control Panels to Manage Linux Servers (tecmint.com)
2. 10 Best Cloud-based Control Panel to Manage Servers & Websites – Geekflare (geekflare.com)
3. Comparison of Top 11 Open Source Hosting Panels in 2020 (znetlive.com)
4. Let’s Compare: RunCloud vs Forge vs ServerPilot – SitePoint (sitepoint.com)
5. Capterra and ProductHunt have some more reviews for web hosting server control panels

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My notes from testing server panels

Almos all of the panels require PHP; there are panels for Python and other languages, such as APISCP

1. Cloudpanel –> I found it to be an impressive panel with a simple and clean interface. Works quite well with a good set of VHosts and content management systems such as WordPress, Drupal, and many more.
2. Cloudron <– During installation and configuration, getting errors, need to install this panel again on a VPS and test further.
3. HestiaCP –> I found it to be lightweight and easy to install. It works well with Debian 10 on a 1 GB OVZ.
4. VPSNoobs –> This panel is based on Cipi, I experienced issues with the dashboard, possibly a browser issue otherwise okay
5. Cleaver –> Good, fast in testing. Learnt about it from Betalist, tried it while it was still as a free trial.
6. Server Avatar –> lots of issues initially with connecting VPS initially, had to reach out to customer support to set up the VPS. In testing around August 2020, configuration was easy!
7. Runcloud –> Had considered their LT deal as alternate to GP
8. Gridpane –> Pick of the lot. Mature, robust stack. Premium product, justifies the premium.
9. Centminmod –> Did not try, so cannot comment.
10. Webuzo –> I tried installing Webuzo through Virtualizer, but got configuration errors. Need to try again at a later time. The installation at the click of a button is convenient. However, I miss the opportunity to peek under the hood and learn what is going on.
11. CentOS Web Panel –> I first experienced this panel while using the shared hosting plan by Illy Hosting. From a user’s perspective, it was a breeze to configure. I was able to do the basics- add a domain configure DNS, create a WordPress site. I haven’t used CentOS Web Panel as an admin, therefore cannot comment on this option for server management panel form that angle.
12. Openlitespeed –> Installation worked well, configuration was quite easy, though I experienced some SSL issues during configuration, which is user error.
13. Cyberpanel : I did not spend enough time with Cyberpanel to comment on its efficacy.

Server Panels for Python or other Languages

I will leave you with a a screenshot for apiscp for now. In a later post, I might write more in detail about these and other panels such as Pythonanywhere